The Blogging Caesar now thinks that at this time that the Republicans CAN (Better than 50-50) take control of the US Senate come Jan 1, 2015 by ONE seat (51)…..

This Dog still believes that the Democrats will maintain a slim majority in the US Upper chamber…..

And feels NC and Michigan are seats that the Democrats should be able to claim their own….I believe Alaska, Iowa and Louisiana will hold for Democrats… and Georgia could very well go Blue…..Kentuckey so far is close but we’ll wait for the GOP Primary….

When Republican Bob Riley defeated Democrat incumbent Governor Don Siegelman in 2002, it was the closest gubernatorial contest in Alabama history. The controversial final margin of 3,000 votes out of 1.35 million cast was only determined after …

After yesterday’s release of Rasmussen’s North Carolina Senate poll, the consensus has built to a point where it is clear incumbent Democratic Senator Kay Hagan is in real danger of losing her seat. All three Republicans …

Over the last six presidential elections, only Utah has voted more Republican than Wyoming. And the Republican advantage has only grown since the turn of the century. Senate elections has have been even more decidedly crimson. In fact, the best …

The economic picture is looking brighter these days. The federal government announced Thursday that economic growth had picked up to its fastest pace in two years, while employment growth over the past five months has averaged a healthy 185,000 new jobs. But as evidenced by a report out Thursday from the Corporation for Enterprise Development, nearly half of Americans are living in a state of “persistent economic insecurity,” that makes it “difficult to look beyond immediate needs and plan for a more secure future.”

In other words, too many of us are living paycheck to paycheck. The CFED calls these folks “liquid asset poor,” and its report finds that 44% of Americans are living with less than $5,887 in savings for a family of four. The plight of these folks is compounded by the fact that the recession ravaged many Americans’ credit scores to the point that now 56% percent of us have subprime credit. That means that if emergencies arise, many Americans are forced to resort to high-interest debt from credit cards or payday loans.

And this financial insecurity isn’t just affected the lower classes. According to the CFED, one-quarter of middle-class households also fall into the category of “liquid asset poor.” Geographically, most of the economically insecure are clustered in the South and West, with Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Nevada, and Arkansas being the states with the highest percentage of financially insecure.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced that he will stop New York City from fighting a lawsuit against its Police Departments aggressive use of the policing policy of ‘stop and frisk’….

The Mayor has agreed to embrace conditions ordered by a federal judge on the Department….

New Police Chief Bill Bratton has said he will retrain the department in the use of ‘stop and frisk’ which feels is important as a crime fighting tool…Bratton actually introduced the policy to the department during his first tenure as Police Commissioner with ten Mayor Rudy Gulianni…..

New York City will settle its long-running legal battle over the Police Department’s practice of stopping, questioning and often frisking people on the street — a divisive issue at the heart of the mayoral race last year — by agreeing to reforms that a judge ordered in August, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Thursday.

In making the announcement, which he said he hoped would end a turbulent chapter in the city’s racial history, Mr. de Blasio offered a sweeping repudiation of the aggressive policing practices that had been a hallmark of his predecessor, Michael R. Bloomberg, but that had stoked anger and resentment in many black and Latino neighborhoods. He essentially reversed the course set by Mr. Bloomberg, whose administration had appealed the judge’s ruling.

“We’re here today to turn the page on one of the most divisive problems in our city,” Mr. de Blasio said at a news conference. “We believe in ending the overuse of stop-and-frisk that has unfairly targeted young African-American and Latino men.”

Bratton worked with a federal monitor during his time as Los Angles Police Chief….

At a closed-door meeting in Police Headquarters in January, Mr. Bratton said that rather than thrusting inexperienced officers into dangerous or highly charged situations, part of a program known as Operation Impact, he envisioned a return to a more traditional approach where rookies would first be placed in local precincts.

“I want to change the dynamic of kids coming out of the academy and immediately being put into Operation Impact assignments, where they really have an almost single-minded focus and really don’t get a full flavor of the job,” he said, according to a recording of the meeting reviewed by The New York Times.

“I think they would benefit from it, working with officers in traditional precinct assignments,” he added.

A New York City police officer, part of the department’s Operation Impact program, patrolled Brooklyn’s 73rd Precinct in 2012. Todd Heisler/The New York Times

The more experienced officers could serve as mentors, Mr. Bratton said, helping the rookies “during that first critical year that they come into the department.”

His comments would amount to a major shift in the department’s approach to training and to street policing, and one called for by Mayor Bill de Blasio during his campaign. Taken together with the announcement on Thursday that the de Blasio administration will settle a federal lawsuit over stop-and-frisk practices, they offered a glimpse at how Mr. Bratton intends to realign his department in pursuit of better relations between everyday officers and the communities they police…..

President Obama finally gets his State Department’s call on the Keystone Pipeline project..

State says the oil from Canada will be produced weather there is a pipeline or not…So doing the project is neutral….

Canada is leaning HARD on getting an Ok….

Oil Companies are leaning HARD on getting an Ok…

And Yes, Republicans in Congress are leaning HARD on the President for a Go….(The state ‘s involved should make some money on the deal)

I’ve alway felt that in the end Obama was gonna approve the project which will generate Billions and Billions of dollars of money to Canada, The US , The Oil Industry and foreign countries willing to buy the energy products….

While there will be more on the project from the President’s State Department….

Protesting by those against the project, isn’t gonna stop people from making BILLIONS of BILLIONS on the project and it’s product…

The State Department released a report on Friday that could pave the way toward President Obama’s approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

The long-awaited environmental impact statement on the project concludes that approval or denial of the pipeline, which would carry 830,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta to the Gulf Coast, is unlikely to prompt oil companies to change the rate of their extraction of carbon-heavy tar sands oil, a State Department official said. Either way, the tar sands oil, which produces significantly more planet-warming carbon pollution than standard methods of drilling, is coming out of the ground, the report says.

In his second term, Mr. Obama has sought to make his fight against climate change a cornerstone of his legacy. In a major speech on the environment last summer, Mr. Obama said that he would approve the pipeline only if it would not “significantly exacerbate” the problem of carbon pollution. He said the pipeline’s net effects on the climate would be “absolutely critical” to his decision.

The conclusions of the report appear to indicate that the project has passed Mr. Obama’s climate criteria, an outcome expected to outrage environmentalists, who have rallied, protested, marched and been arrested in demonstrations around the country against the pipeline.

The project, which has been under review by the State Department since 2008, has become a political lightning rod for both the left and the right. Environmentalists rallying for action on climate change have seized on the pipeline plan as a potent symbol of fossil fuel projects that contribute to global warming.

Republicans and the oil industry point to the Keystone project as a symbol of energy independence and job creation, and have repeatedly attacked Mr. Obama for failing to approve a project that could create thousands of jobs…..

Here, the “Get Lucky” artists both avoid the camera’s direction as they stack their luggage onto a cart.

Bangalter and de Homem–Christo aren’t as excited about you seeing them as we are. “We’re not performers, we’re not models. It would not be enjoyable for humanity to see our features, but the robots are exciting to people,” de Homem Christo told Rolling Stone of the novelty of their disguise.

“One thing I like about the masks is that I don’t have people constantly coming up to me and reminding me what I do. It’s nice to be able to forget,” Bangalter elaborated.

Across the country Governor’s are trying the first step to deal with the ground swell against the Federal Common Core Curriculum roll out…

Call it something else….

Also….

Mike Huckabee is pushing the program which is HIGHLY unlikes by Tea party Conservatives….

At a recent meeting of the Council of Chief State School Officers, one of the organizations that helped create the standards, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee (R) urged state education leaders to ditch the “Common Core” name, noting that it had become “toxic.”

“Rebrand it, refocus it, but don’t retreat,” said Huckabee, now the host of a Fox News talk show and a supporter of the standards.

The changes are largely superficial, giving new labels to national standards that are taking hold in classrooms across the country. But the desire to market them differently shows how precarious the push for the Common Core has grown, even though the standards were established by state officials with bipartisan support and quickly earned widespread approval, including the endorsement of the Obama administration.

Supporters say the standards emphasize critical thinking and analytical skills, as opposed to rote learning, and will enable American students to better compete in the global marketplace.

But the wholesale changes in K-12 education that have come with the standards have provoked a raft of critics. Opponents includetea party activists who say the Common Core standards amount to a federal takeover of local education and progressives who bristle at the emphasis on testing and the role of the Gates Foundation, which has funded the development and promotion of the standards. Some academics say the math and reading standards are too weak; others say they are too demanding, particularly for young students.

Across the country, teachers are struggling to revamp their lessons; states are hastily working to adopt standardized tests tailored to the Common Core; and parents are left to wonder about all the changes taking place in the classroom.

Now, with new names, the idea that the standards are “common” might not be apparent….

LA-Sen: A new poll from Rasmussen has Rep. Bill Cassidy(R) in a good position-leading Sen. Mary Landrieu(D) by 44%-40%. Rasmussen polls usually should be taken with a grain of salt, although recently they’ve actually been showing more favoritism to Democrats in their national polls, and this poll shows President Obama with a 50% approval in the state, which seems highly unlikely. It’s hard to believe however, that Landrieu’s support is any lower than the 40% indicated in this pol. Any way you look at it however, it’s a good result for Cassidy.

NJ-Sen: Conservative activist and professor Murray Sabrin is considering challenging Sen. Cory Booker(D). Sabrin has run for Senate before in 2000 and 2008, both times losing in the Republican primary. That kind of history makes Sabrin seem a likely sacrificial lamb against Booker, but as no prominent candidate has stepped forward to run in what would be a difficult race anyway, a sacrificial lamb is all that Republicans are likely to get.

NC-Sen: The crowded GOP race for Senate against Sen. Kay Hagan(D) has lost one of its candidates. Bill Flynn, a Winston-Salem radio talk show host, cited poor fundraising in his decision to drop out. Flynn also lost his campaign manager earlier this week, which no doubt played a role in his decision as well. Flynn has never garnered much attention in the race, and it’s not clear whether his exit from the race benefits any of the other candidate, specifically, although one less candidate makes the likelihood of somebody reaching the 40% necessary in the primary to avoid a runoff.

OK-Sen(Coburn): Former state Sen. Randy Brogdon(R), currently planning a primary challenge to Gov. Mary Fallin(R), is now considering running for the soon to be vacated seat of Sen. Tom Coburn(R). Brogdon may be looking to be the favorite of conservative groups against Rep. James Lankford(R) in the wake of the decision not to run of Rep. Jim Bridenstine(R), who the groups wanted to run. Without such support though, it’s hard to see Brogdon being a factor in a race that, as other major players have opted out appears set to be a two man race between Lankford and state House Speaker T.W. Shannon, who entered the race this week.

VA-Sen: Libertarian Robert Sarvis is planning to run for the seat of Sen. Mark Warner(D). Sarvis ran for governor last year and received a higher-than-usual amount of support for a Libertarian in the race, but he may find it harder to duplicate that amount of support in this race, as in the governor’s race he was a choice for many voters who were upset with both party nomines, whereas the Senate race features the popular Warner who is a fairly heavy favorite for re-election…..

Want the scoop on hot races around the country? Get the digest emailed to you each weekday morning. Sign up here.

Leading Off:

•CA-33: Another veteran California Democrat is saying goodbye after a 40-year career in Congress. Los Angeles-area Rep. Henry Waxman, who put together a storied legislative track record during his long tenure, announced on Thursday that he won’t seek re-election this fall. Along with the Bay Area’s George Miller, who is also retiring, Waxman was one of just two remaining “Watergate babies” who served continuously since storming into office in 1974, in a backlash against the Republican Party following Richard Nixon’s resignation. The Washington Postsums up several of his most notable accomplishments:

Among that legislation were laws to make infant formula safer and more nutritious (1980), bring low-priced generic drugs to market (1984), clean the air (1990), provide services and medical care to people with AIDS (1996), and reform and modernize the Postal Service (2006). He was also instrumental in the passage of the Affordable Care Act.

Waxman was also one of the chief architects of the cap-and-trade legislation to fight climate change that Republicans killed off a few years ago (even though the idea originated with their party). Now, though, Waxman simply says, “This is a good time to move on and have another chapter if I am to do anything after Congress.” He also addedthat he’s “not leaving because I think House Democrats have no chance to retake the House.”

Waxman’s 33rd District, which went for Barack Obama by a 61-37 margin, is safely Democratic. Waxman did suffer a scare last cycle, winning by just 8 points—the closest election of his career by far—against self-funding Republican-turned-independent businessman Bill Bloomfield. That may have been partly caused by rust, but it was also very likely due to redistricting, which left Waxman with a much less liberal district that was half-new to him.

David Wildstein, the ex-Port Authority boss, and NJ Governor insider, who set in motion the GW Bridge closures has looking for an immunity deal….

His bombshell may have just provided it, and signaled deep legal trouble for his ex-boss Jersey Governor Chris Christie who has publicly denied having ANYTHING to do with the lane closures that tied up traffic for days presumedly fro political retribution…

The former Port Authority official who personally oversaw the lane closings on the George Washington Bridge in the scandal now swirling around Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey said on Friday that the governor knew about the lane closings when they were happening, and that he had the evidence to prove it.

In a letter released by his lawyer, the official, David Wildstein, a high school friend of Mr. Christie’s who was appointed with the governor’s blessing at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which controls the bridge, described the order to close the lanes as “the Christie administration’s order” and said “evidence exists as well tying Mr. Christie to having knowledge of the lane closures, during the period when the lanes were closed, contrary to what the governor stated publicly in a two-hour press conference” three weeks ago.

Document: Letter Says Governor Christie Knew About Lane Closings

“Mr. Wildstein contests the accuracy of various statements that the governor made about him and he can prove the inaccuracy of some,” the letter added.

The letter marked the first signal that Mr. Christie may have been aware of the closings, something he repeatedly denied during the news conference…..

Sandra Fluke may get a chance to bring her ‘war on women’ message to Congress as a member of that body….

Fluke rose to stardom in 2012 when, as a Georgetown Law student, she was denied the chance to testify at a Republican-led House oversight hearing on Obamacare’s contraception coverage requirements and religious freedom. Women did appear on a subsequent panel. The controversy went viral when conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh called her a “prostitute” and a “slut” because of her need for birth control.

Fluke quickly became a celebrity on the left and an outspoken advocate on women’s health issues. She even received a speaking spot at the Democratic National Convention in 2012, as Democrats contended that Republicans had waged a “war on women.”

The news was met quickly with support from prominent Democrats. Strategist Hilary Rosen expressed support on Twitter and offered the hashtag “#RunSandraRun.”

Just sayin’

“I think it’s a constitutional violation” and “We’ve never had a president with that level of audacity and that level of contempt for his own oath of office.”

House Speaker John Boehner:

“There’s a Constitution that we all take an oath to, including him!”

And then, of course, there’s this:

Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas) said Tuesday night he left President Obama’s State of the Union speech early after “hearing how the president is further abusing his Constitutional powers.”

“I could not bear to watch as he continued to cross the clearly-defined boundaries of the Constitutional separation of powers,” Stockman said in a press release shortly after Obama’s speech ended. “Needless to say, I am deeply disappointed in the tone and content of tonight’s address.”

Stockman said Obama was promising to “break his oath of office and begin enacting his own brand of law through executive decree.”

he U.S. economy grew at a 3.2 percent annual rate in the October-December quarter on the strength of the strongest consumer spending in three years, an encouraging sign for 2014.

The fourth-quarter increase followed a 4.1 percent growth rate in the July-September quarter, when the economy was boosted by a buildup in business stockpiles.

The Commerce Department says that for 2013 as a whole, the economy grew a tepid 1.9 percent, below the 2.8 percent increase in 2012. Growth was held back last year by higher federal taxes and government spending cuts.

With that drag removed, many economists think growth could top 3 percent in 2014, which would be the best performance since the recession ended in mid-2009….

House GOP Speaker Boehner will have to appease Conservatives that any Immigration bill does NOT offer citizenship or amnesty to those undocumented….In addition, his bill (Some what like the Senate’s) call for MORE spending for Berlin Wall stuff and MORE Border cops at the Border and around the country…

The House bill outline is manly punitive…

More so than the Senate Bill….But with the Conservative faction in the House what would one expect?

The immigration blueprint, unveiled to the Republican conference during a three-day retreat in Cambridge, Md., also specifies that “there will be no special path to citizenship for individuals who broke our nation’s immigration laws,” and lays out the Republican belief that “specific enforcement triggers,” as well as border security and interior enforcement measures, must be in place before any undocumented immigrant can gain legal status.

“There will be no special path to citizenship for individuals who broke our nation’s immigration laws — that would be unfair to those immigrants who have played by the rules and harmful to promoting the rule of law,” the document says. “Finally, none of this can happen before specific enforcement triggers have been implemented to fulfill our promise to the American people that from here on, our immigration laws will indeed be enforced.”

The principles are intended to help Speaker John A. Boehner and his leadership team gauge the conference’s willingness to embark on legislation to overhaul the nation’s immigration system. The document, in an attempt to appease the conference’s more conservative members, explicitly states that the nation’s immigration problems cannot be solved with “a single, massive piece of legislation,” and promises that the Republicans will take a “step-by-step, common-sense approach” that does not involve conference negotiations between the House and the Senate.

Though a broad immigration bill passed the Senate in June with bipartisan support, many conservative Republicans are wary of the legislation, which includes a 13-year path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants already here, and which they consider “amnesty.”

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is announcing that the head of the Navy’s Cyber Command has been chosen to be the next chief of the troubled National Security Agency.

Vice Adm. Mike Rogers, also a former intelligence director for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is being nominated to replace Army Gen. Keith Alexander.

The NSA has been rocked by former analyst Edward Snowden’s disclosures of its secret surveillance programs that collect phone and Internet data around the world and now faces enormous pressure to change its ways.

Rogers has long been considered the heir apparent for the job, which includes taking command of US Cyber Command, which like the NSA is based at Fort Meade, Md. Alexander is planning to retire in mid-March…..